The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Monitor Telescope Pipeline
Date
2006-11Author
Tucker, Douglas
Kent, Stephen
Richmond, Michael
Annis, James
Smith, James
Allam, S.
Rodgers, C.
Stute, J.
Adelman-McCarthy, Jennifer
Brinkman, Jonathan
Doi, Mamoru
Finkbeiner, Douglas
Fukugita, Masataka
Goldston, J.
Greenway, B.
Gunn, James
Hendry, John
Hogg, David
Ichikawa, Shin-ichi
Ivezic, Zeljko
Knapp, Gillian
Lampeitl, Hubert
Lee, Brian
Lin, Huan
McKay, Timothy
Merrelli, A.
Munn, Jeffrey
Neilsen, E.
Newberg, H.
Richards, Gordon
Schlegel, David
Stoughton, Christopher
Uomoto, Alan
Yanny, Brian
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The photometric calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a multi-step process which involves data from
three different telescopes: the 1.0-m telescope at the US Naval Observatory (USNO), Flagstaff Station, Arizona (which
was used to establish the SDSS standard star network); the SDSS 0.5-m Photometric Telescope (PT) at the Apache Point
Observatory (APO), New Mexico (which calculates nightly extinctions and calibrates secondary patch transfer fields); and
the SDSS 2.5-m telescope at APO (which obtains the imaging data for the SDSS proper).
In this paper, we describe the Monitor Telescope Pipeline, MTPIPE, the software pipeline used in processing the data
from the single-CCD telescopes used in the photometric calibration of the SDSS (i.e., the USNO 1.0-m and the PT). We
also describe transformation equations that convert photometry on the USNO-1.0m u′g′r′i′z′ system to photometry the
SDSS 2.5m ugriz system and the results of various validation tests of the MTPIPE software. Further, we discuss the
semi-automated PT factory, which runs MTPIPE in the day-to-day standard SDSS operations at Fermilab. Finally, we
discuss the use of MTPIPE in current SDSS-related projects, including the Southern u′g′r′i′z′ Standard Star project, the
u′g′r′i′z′ Open Star Clusters project, and the SDSS extension (SDSS-II).